Reenforcing structural member



April 0, 1934. A. ca. LEAKE 1,954,357

REENFORCING STRUCTURAL MEMBER Filed Dec; 30, 1931 gmmtoe Patented Apr.10, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Arthur G. Leake, Bridgeport, Conn.

Application December 30, 1931, Serial No. 583,812

3 Claims.

This invention relates to reenforcing structural members, such as inbuilding structures, bridges and the like, and has for an object toprovide a method and means of reenforcing any of the structural membersor,any part thereof without tearing down the structure or disturbing therivets, and which may be applied while the structure is in position andunder load.

With the foregoing and other objects in view,

the invention consists in a certain novel method and structure as willbe more fully disclosed in connection with the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a portion of a beam or girder-"showing theapplication of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section through the same substantially on line 2-2of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the structure in Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a detailed section on an enlarged scale substantially on line44 of Fig. 3.

The invention consists broadly in reenforcing structural members, suchas beams, trusses, columns, chords of trusses, webs of plate girders,built-up girders, and the like, where they have deteriorated, or if theyare not deteriorated to increase their load carrying capacity, withoutdisturbing the structure or the present rivet heads, and therefore ,itmay be applied while the member being strengthened is left in positionor is even under load. 1 As illustrating the invention, I have shown itin the drawing as applied to a built-up girder, but as indicated abovethis is merely by way of illustration, and the method and structure maybe applied to various other structural members as indicated above.

The structural member shown comprises a web 10 with angle members 11riveted to the opposite edges thereof by the rivets 12, and thestructure strengthened by longitudinal plates 13 and 14 riveted to theoutwardly extending flanges of the upper and lower angle membersrespectively by the rivets 15. If the structure is deteriorated, oreventhough it is still in good condition and it is desired to strengthenit to carry a heavier load, with my improved method the structure can bestrengthened without disturbing theheads of the rivets and withoutdisturbing the structure. I accomplish this by taking a new structuralmember of any desired shape or section and provided with openings of aspacing corresponding to the spacing of the rivet heads, and whichopenings are somewhat larger 5 than the rivet heads so as to provide aclearance around the heads when the new member is placed against the oldmember. The holes or openings can be provided by punching, drilling orburning these holes, and after the paint, rust and scale has beencleaned from thesurfaces of the old member, the new member can beapplied against it and welded in position as will be more fullydescribed. The paint, rust and scale can be removed by acetylene andoxygen torch, scraping the cleaning with a wire brush, and/or othercleaning tools.

In the specific illustration in the drawing a new cover plate 16 or 17is provided with openings 18 by any' suitable means, such as punching,drilling or burning, which openings are spaced to correspond with thespacing of the rivets 15, and these openings are somewhat larger thanthe rivet heads to provide sufficient clearance for properly weldingafter the surfaces of the old member, as the top surface of the member13 and the bottom surface of the member 14 are properly cleaned and thenew plate is placed against it. Then with the rivet heads in theopenings 18, the edges of the openings are welded to the old plate ormember 13 or 14 as the case may be and to the head of the rivet asindicated at 19. This welding is preferably done by electric welding,although not necessarily so, and the weld metal 19 is thoroughly weldedto the edges of the openings 18, the surface of the old structure isindicated at 20, and to the head of the rivet, all as clearly shown inFig. 4, making a uniform structure, and preferably filling up the spacebetween the rivet head and the edges of the openings 18 flush with thetop or outer surface of the new member. Then the edges of the new membermay be welded to the old member or the edges of the old member to thenew member whichever happens to be the proper procedure and as required.A the top of the girder shown in the drawing the new plate 16 issomewhat narrower than the old plate 13, and therefore the edges of thenew plate are welded to the surface of the old plate as indicated at 21.At the lower part of the girder the new plate 17 is shown as of greaterwidth than the old plate 14, and therefore here the edges of the oldplate 14 are welded to the surface of the new plate 17 as indicated at22.

Although as above described new plates 16 or 1'7 have been added to theold structure, it will be evident that the invention may be employed inthe same manner for applying other strengthening members, such asangles, channels, beams, etc. .It is to be noted that the weld 19 may beapplied simultaneously to the old member, the new member and the rivethead, and note is especially to be made of the increased circumferentialvalue of the cross section of the rivet due to this welding. It willalso be evident that this method of strengthening may be applied eitherto old structures which have been deterlorated to bring them up to theirnormal strength, or it is equally adapted for application to structureswhich have not deteriorated, but to which it is desired to add a new oradditional section to enable it to carry an increased load.

Having thus set forth the nature of my invention, what I claim is:

1. The method of reenforcing structural members including members heldtogether by rivets which comprises providing holes in a new cover plate,having said holes spaced to correspond with the spacing of the rivetsand somewhat larger than the rivet heads, placing this plate against thestructural member with the rivets in the openings, and welding the edgesof the holes to the rivet heads and the old member and also welding theedges of the new plate to the old member.

2. The method of reenforcing structural structures including membersheld together by rivets which comprises providing a new structuralmember with openings of a size somewhat larger than the rivet heads andspaced to correspond therewith, placing the new member against one ofthe old members with the heads of the rivets in said openings, weldingthe new member in said openings to the old member and the rivet heads,and also welding edges or one of the old members to the new member.

3. A reenforced structure comprising structural members held together byrivets, a reeniorcing member resting against one oi said structuralmembers having openings of somewhat larger diameter than the rivet headsand located with the rivet heads in the openings, welded connectionsabout the edges of the openings securing the reenforcing member to therivet heads and the old member, and welded connections between edges 01'the reenrorcing member and one of the structural members. 1

ARTHUR G. LEAKE.

